A Test of Poetry

LOUIS ZUKOFSKY (1904-1978) was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. His early work, including his first published poem, "Poem Beginning 'The'," strived to establish the poem as object by employing syntactic fragmentation and line breaks that disrupt normal speech rhythm. Zukofsky invented the term "objectivist" and is widely considered one of the primary forerunners of contemporary avant-garde writing. His many books include "A", Prepositions, Bottom: on Shakespeare, The Complete Short Poetry, and The Collected Fiction.